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I liked walking in the rain. I enjoyed listening to the noise of water on the roofs of houses and cars, on discard litter, on leaves and umbrellas. Every note was a different sound, coming together to form the melody of the rainfall. That song for me calmed my soul like nothing else could.

I didn’t walk with a destination in mind. I went wherever I fancied with no fear of getting lost. I had explored the streets of this town for years, little had changed. I crossed roads, went into parks, cut through graveyards with their dark church guardians then over the bridge.

The sound of rain on the river was loud and blocked some of the background town noise. I watched for awhile before turning and heading back home. I felt better, less stressed and calmer. Cold prickled my skin, making my sense of feeling higher, the handle of my umbrella a solid weight in my hands.

The snow lay thick across everything. Hilda stepped outside her house, admiring the view and taking a photo with her phone. This early in the morning, nothing but birds had touched the snow and it looked as pure as it been in the clouds.

Hilda felt like laughing, she wasn’t sure why, maybe due to the overwhelming joy in her chest? She loved winter, there was just something so magical and special about the season compared to all the others. Maybe, it was also because her family came from Russia, the home of winter.

It was too cold to laugh, her breath was misting badly in front of her because she had been stood too long. Instead, she smiled and carried on walking down the country lane. There was no wind but some loose snow was drifting from tree branches. Hilda wished it would snow again, there was nothing like the feeling of snowflakes on warm skin.

Following the path around, she came to a breathtaking sight. Snow covered hills rose in the distance, the tops of which were covered by fog. Naked trees spiked the fields, frost bitten and snow draped. A wobbly wood and wire fence ran to the left of her, frozen snow domed the posts.

She scooped a handful of snow up in her gloved hands, patted it down and threw it at a near by tree. It fell short with a soft plop. Hilda laughed, feeling such like a child again that she could no longer contain herself. As her voice faded, she heard something, a faint cry?

Holding her breath, she listened and heard what sounded like a baby crying. The spell of magical winter gone, Hilda grew concerned and tried to follow the sound. It seemed to be coming from the tree she had thrown the snowball at.

How was it possible that a baby was out here alone? she wondered.

Hilda searched around the tree trunk, the crying had grown louder. She moved some snow away and found a little hollow. What was that inside? She reached in, thinking it just more snow but instead her hands withdrew something else. Holding it up to her face, Hilda saw the tiniest kitten she had every seen. It was snow white, with blue eyes and a touch of a pink mouth.

‘Oh! You poor thing!’ Hilda cried, ‘What are you doing out here?’

The kitten give a small whimper.

Quickly unzipping her coat, Hilda tugged the kitten inside to keep it warm. Zipping up again, she inspected the trunk and roots of the tree carefully but she found nothing else. Still worried that there might be more kittens or a mother cat out here, Hilda wandered from tree to tree, bush to bush, anywhere an animal could hide from freezing.

Sometime later and far down the lane, Hilda had to give up which really wasn’t what she wanted to do. There had been no other signs of cats though and Hilda’s worry had moved on to the kitten in her coat. She could feel it’s warm and gentle breathing against her chest.

Heading back home, Hilda decided she would have to find out how to take care of the kitten. She had never had a pet before. Maybe, someone had just lost the little thing and she could find the owner in the village or at one of the farms?

As soon as I know the kitten is okay, I’ll do that, Hilda decided.

Days later and after a lot of asking around, no one had come to claim the kitten. Hilda had decided to name her Snowy and she was doing great. Her time outside had’t seemed to have effected her that much. Snowy was growing stronger all the time and Hilda had fallen in love with her.

The phone rang, Jen tutted and abandoned the cake batter she had been mixing to answer it. It was probably a cold caller and she should just let the answer machine get it but she had finally got month old baby Louis down for his afternoon nap and didn’t want anything disturbing him.

‘Hello?’ Jen said into the phone.

‘Hi, it’s only me,’ her husband, Mike spoke, ‘I tried your mobile. I thought you might be a sleep.’

‘No,’ Jen replied with a sign, ‘I was in the kitchen.’

‘Okay. I just wanted to let you know I’m not sure what time I’ll be home,’ Mike explained, ‘there’s been a full office computer crash. Some idiot downloaded a virus yesterday and it’s super bad. I’m not letting anyone from the IT department leave till we’ve fixed it.’

‘I see,’ Jen uttered.

‘I’ll get something to eat on the way home. Don’t wait up for me, you still need to rest as much as possible.’

Jen nodded.

‘How is Louis?’ Mike asked.

‘Good. He’s sleeping now and he drink a full bottle before.’

‘Super! I got to go. Got the big boss at my throat. See you later, Honey.’

‘Bye,’ Jen said as the ring tone beeped in her ear.

She hung the phone up then stared at it. Why did things like that had to happened? Jen hugged herself and tried not to let the silence of the house get to her. Feeling a slight chill, she moved back into the warmth of the kitchen.

There in the bright lights, surround by cooking equipment and ingredients she could pretend that everything was normal again. Busying herself with finishing off mixing the cake batter, she was just about to divided it into the paper cupcake cases with a baby’s cry came from the living room.

Jen paused and tried not to rush off. Hoping, he would stop and settle again, She began scooping batter into the cases. She made it to four then give in and went into the living room.

‘I’m coming, Louis,’ she called.

Jen stood over pram then picked Louis up. She mumbled things to him and snuggled him. Then realised he needed changing and went and did that. Wrapping him up again, she tried to get him back to sleep but he seemed too awake. Placing him into the pram again, she wheeled him into the kitchen and parked him up.

Finishing dividing the cake mix, she placed the tray into the oven and set the timer. Washing her hands, she tidied everything up then wondered what to do next. On the counter was a pack of spaghetti and a jar of bolognese sauce, this evening dinner.

‘We won’t be needing this now,’ Jen said aloud and put them away, ‘I’ll have some soup instead and you can have some more milk.’

Louis made a moaning sound and Jen checked on him. He had taken both scratch mitts off again.

‘How do you do that?’ Jen wondered.

She put the mitts back on and wheeled him back into the living room. There, she put the TV back and set the channel to one with afternoon game shows as had became her habit. Picking up Louis, she sat cuddling him on the sofa. He dozed on and off then wanted feeding again.

The timer went off whilst she was feeding him and Jen, who hadn’t mastered juggling a baby and other things yet, had to place him down and go to get the cakes out. Louis started crying and her repeatedly tell him she was coming right back had no effect. Cakes out and left to cool, she washed her hands and hurried back to breast feeding him.

Settled again, Jen felt waves of tiredness drifting over her. Louis was a heavy, hot, soft bundle in her arms. The house was warmer now as the heating had come on. Rain was tapping against the windows and even though it was almost four o’clock, night had rolled in.

Realising, she should close the curtains, Jen got up careful and placed Louis in his pram again. She went over to the window and looked out. The street lamps were on and there were cars and people outside. A front door across the road was open, light pooling out and two people were stood in the glow.

A stab of loneliness hit Jen. Her hands slipped from the curtains. She had been ill throughout the whole of her pregnancy and had to have time off work sick then take early maternity leave. Luckily, she and Louis had got through the birth fine, but Jen was recovering and hadn’t left the house much in the last ten months now.

Family and friends had been regularly visitors throughout those months and Jen was grateful for those mornings and afternoons spent with in their company but the mid-week period was the worse time. It was just her and Louis for eight or nine hours whilst Mike was a work and everyone else was too busy.

Jen closed the curtains and tried to get rid of the dreadful feeling filling her up. She checked on Louis who was fast asleep then went into the kitchen. She ate one of the just cooled cakes and made herself a cup of tea.

To help focus herself, Jen thought about plans for the next few weeks. After her last hospital check up, she would started to go out more. She had seen a mums and babies play group advertised at a local church on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. There was also baby swimming on Monday and Friday mornings at the sport centre. On Wednesdays there was the lunch club at her work that she could take Louis too as well.

‘See? You are going to be fine,’ Jen said aloud, ‘just get better.’

Grabbing another cake and her cup of tea, Jen went back to the sofa. Adverts were flashing on the TV and Jen got ready to watch the next quiz show, feeling that little bit better.

Like this:

The conservatory was cold, so Maddie turned up the heating. Then created a nest for herself out of large cushions and soft fluffy blankets, on the large over stuffed leather chair. Snuggling down and hugging the warm mug of tea, Maddie took a few deep breaths.

Minutes before, Maddie had been in the middle of an anxiety attack. All her senses had been overwhelmed, every little sound made her nervous and her mind a hurricane of worrying thoughts. She hadn’t been able to slow down and the pain in her stomach had crippled her. Maddie had felt like the whole world was crushing her.

She had shut her eyes, rubbed her stomach in circles and thought about the sound of the rain on the windows and the wind rattling outside. That had helped ease things, Maddie had got up, made a hot drink and gone into the almost glass room at the back of the house.

Now, she could hear the rain and wind surrounding her, washing over and helping to make her feel much better. Safe in the nest, she sipped the peppermint tea and thought only of all the warmth. She was safe from everything here.

Georgia pulled the car into a parking space as close to the supermarket as she could get. She turned off the engine and glanced at her children in the back seat. Two year old Ellis had fallen asleep and five year old Lottie was looking unhappily out of the window.

The weather was abysmal. Heavy rain and gale force winds were drenching and battering everything. Leaves and litter were being swept up into mini tornadoes and becoming stuck to everything as the rain glued them down. The sky above was dark and more like evening time then late morning.

Getting out, Georgia moved quickly. She helped Lottie out then picked up Ellis, hugging him to her side. Taking her daughter’s hand, they walked towards the large, brightly light shop. The weather seemed to victimise them; the wind howled around like a hungry wild animal and the rain pelted down.

They reached the sheltered entrance. Georgia, feeling like she had just waded through a monsoon, collected a shopping trolley and placed Ellis into the baby seat. She then reached to take Lottie’s hand again.

Marching onwards, they joined the queue to get in and pushed through the automatic sliding doors which had broken under the pressure of people moving passed. Warm air buffed them but it was hardly enough to take the chill off, let alone dry them.

Stepping inside, Georgia sighed deeply as she looked around, regretting her decision to come out. It seemed everyone else had gotten the same idea too.

The supermarket was chaotic. The noise of all the voices like a stormy sea; children were crying or shouting, teenagers were arguing and moaning whilst adults battled in-between in the shelves and the elderly were complaining loudly to anyone who would listen.

‘You want to go in the trolley?’ Georgia asked Lottie, gently.

‘I’m too big for that now,’ Lottie replied with a pout.

‘I know, but it’s busy and I wouldn’t want you to get lost,’ Georgia explained.

Lottie shook her head then pointed and said, ‘Halloween costumes, Mummy!’

Georgia looked over and saw a nearby rail unit weighed down with a range of different costumes. A few people were gathered around, selecting ones.

‘But you all ready have one from last year,’ Georgia replied, ‘a blue witch dress. Remember?’

‘I don’t want to be a witch!’ Lottie cried, ‘I want to be an evil princess fairy!’

Before Georgia could grip her, Lottie went over to the costumes and began looking through the girl ones. There were two rows of pretty, bright colored dresses and a row darker dresses.

Pushing the trolley over, Georgia joined her, debating if it was worth trying to tell Lottie she wasn’t having a new Halloween costume. Then, they both saw at the same time a wonderful sparkly bright pink and purple dress with layers of lace bunched together for the skirt with sliver and gold stars on it.

‘That’s not very Halloween like,’ Georgia said, wondering if someone had accidentally placed it there.

‘I want it!’ Lottie gushed.

Georgia checked the size and found it was big enough for Lottie, ‘I’ll get it you then.’

‘Now I need wings, Mummy! and something….but not a hat, to go in my hair,’ Lottie said.

‘What does an evil princess fairy look like anyway?’ Georgia asked as they found some white sparkly wings behind the unicorn onesies.

‘Like a normal fairy princess but with an angry face,’ Lottie replied.

The last of the sunset was a glimmer in the sky, the final hint of color disappearing into the night. Darkness rolled in fast then, bring with it heavy rain which the blustery wind used to hit everything it could with. A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance, sounding like cannon fire.

Looking out on to my empty street, I saw windows of light from nearby houses, flashing car headlights down the road and leaves tumbling past. I looked for the lightening, craning my head up to search the sky, but none came.

I closed the curtains on this scene and went to stir the flames which were gaining strength in the fireplace. Waves of heat were beginning to roll off and the logs were blazing.

Settling on the sofa with a heavy woolen blanket over me, the weather and fire became background noises. I sipped hot chocolate from a polar bear face shaped mug which steam was still curling off of. Placing that down, I picked up the heavy book and opened the anthology of ghost stories into my lap.

I can’t believe that October is here! September seems to have flown by and taking the last of summer with it. Outside it feels like autumn is settling in now. The leaves on the trees are changing coloring and falling. There’s also been strong wind and heavy wind but most noticeable the fast coming and long nights. I remember during summer, it still being light till nine but now the clock chimes seven and night arrives.

Now normally, I’d be so excited and looking forward to Halloween but I’m not. I just can’t seem to shake off this feeling that something is wrong. I’ve reviewed everything and turned lot over in my head whilst laying in bed these past nights, but I still don’t know where this feeling has come from. It’s like I’ve forgotten something important or there’s something off about my normal self, I’m not thinking right anymore.

I don’t know if I should just let it go or try to figure out more deeply what’s wrong? Maybe, it’s just the full change of the season coming in. I mean, summer has felt so hot and long this year and I guess we’ve all gotten so use to living in what seems to be a more tropical country. Now, it’s back to normal England and everyone is unhappy – expect for people like me who are not a fan of the heat!

It’s also that point of the year when I just feel more alone and fed up. Not for any real reason, it’s just feeling tried and ill all the time. I know it’ll pass and I do really want it to. There’s a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks and months, too much for me to be in this grumpy mood!

Like this:

Bob hadn’t be able to offered a new shelter roof after the storm blew it off. He thought at first that his pub’s clients wouldn’t mind just standing outside. Summer was still lingering and the nights were warm and dry. Weeks later, autumn fully arrived, sweeping and washing away summer.

Bob needed a simple and cheap idea to give people shelter. Umbrellas had come to him as he had been watching the rain falling outside. He stock piled boxes full and fixed them across the roof frame. The shelter looked like the stage of a colourful musical but the pub’s clients loved it.

Postman Bert finished his cup of tea and looked outside. The rain was falling steadily from a dark grey sky and the wind was sweeping leaves about. It looked like autumn out there for sure.

He returned his cup to the small canteen counter, said goodbye to Maureen who was busy making toast for another postman and went to collect his bags full of letters and small parcels. Then he left the post sorting office and started his rounds. The weather was just as bad as it had seemed inside but Bert didn’t mind that much.

He rode his bicycle for ten minutes then turned down a small street. Here, he padlocked his bicycle to a lamp post and started delivering the mail. And that was how it was for much of the morning; he went from street to street, door to door, posting through letters of all kinds and sometimes parcels.

At one house though as he was getting the right letters for that address, he saw an envelope with his name on it. Bert stopped and read the child’s handwriting on the front. The address had been the post office. Wondering why this letter for him had been mixed in with someone else’s, Bert turned the envelope over and saw the return address was for the door he was standing before. That explained it.

Bert posted the other letters through and put the letter for himself into a deep pocket of his red coat. Then he finished off his morning round and went back to the sorting office for a lunch break.

Whilst waiting for his hot lunch, Bert took the letter from his pocket and opened it. The child’s handwriting was difficult to read in places but the words brought a smile to his face. It wasn’t often a postman got thanked for doing his job and that made Bert feel happy.

Dear Postman Bert,

Thank you for delivering my birthday presents last week. Mummy has been in hospital and she is now getting better at home, but she wasn’t able to go out and buy anything. She brought things online and she wasn’t sure they would be here on time but you and the post office helped to make it so!

Like this:

Summer has gone so fast like a whirlwind of sun, heat and fun. For the last few days, it has been feeling autumnal; strong winds, rain, a chill to the air and the nights have been closing in quicker.

For me though, this season is the best and I’m so happy for it to start. Some of my friends are already complaining; it’s colder, it’s darker, I’ve to switch my clothes around! I don’t see the problem though, I can finally wear jumpers and be all cosy!

Then there’s listening to the rain and wind outside whilst the fire is crackling away and I’ve a good book to read and hot chocolate to sip. What more could anyone want? Maybe a cat or dog or another person to snug with…

Well, I’ll get one or the other, maybe even two or all, one day! For now, I’m happy still without the responsibility to a pet or relationship.

It’s starting to rain outside now but it’s that summer drizzle stuff and not the autumn down pour. It’s dark out there too and I can see the neighbour’s garden light on.

Like this:

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